Teen Killed At Chinese Internet Addiction Camp

eldavojohn writes "Sixteen-year-old Deng Senshan was tragically beaten to death by three of his instructors in an internet addiction camp in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China. Reportedly it was for not being able to run fast enough. An article in the Wall Street Journal says that, 'China's netizens have played a key role in drawing nationwide attention to recent cases of deaths in prisons and detention centers, so it should be no surprise that they are up in arms over the fate of one of their own. Many questioned the fairly new diagnosis of "Internet addiction" as a mental disorder.' You may recall electroshock treatment being banned from use on internet addicts in China. According to Xinhua, more than 100 juveniles remain in 'treatment' at the camp, which has stayed open. Perhaps for Senshan it would have been better to let him endure his cruel affliction instead of having his parents pay over $1,000 to have him beaten to death?"

Comments

Don't worry

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't worry, he'll respawn in a few seconds

Re:Don't worry

[A. B3ttik]

Troll? Stupid mods, that's +5 hilarious.

Re:Don't worry

[Hoi Polloi]

He only last 1 day. Poor kid got ganked. Damn pvp.

Re:Don't worry

[Anonymous Coward]

Nah, he probably is now transferred to another server.

Re:Don't worry

[A. B3ttik]

Ah, so you're Hindu?

Re:Don't worry

[Aphoxema]

PvP? Sounds more like he got banned for failure to follow an ever-changing ToS.

Re:Don't worry

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course he couldn't run fast enough. He's an internet addict.

Re:Don't worry

[Anonymous Coward]

Fatality!

Flawless Victory!

Re:Don't worry

[el_tedward]

This is one of those comments I feel terribly guilty for laughing at.

Re:Don't worry

[nametaken]

noob.

Re:Don't worry

[Tubal-Cain]

I decided a long time ago that my headstone would read:
Respawn in 9...

Re:Don't worry

[easyTree]

Deng graduated from Ziyuan No. 2 High School in Guilin in July and was sent to Guangxi Qihang Survival Training Camp, a branch set up by Guangzhou Self-help Teenager Development Training Center on Saturday by his parents.

They had read an ad about the camp online and hoped the experience would help rid their son of his Internet addiction.

Wtf. They didn't book themselves a place?

I don't see how internet addiction should be considered a real thing. As long as he's not descended to using a mac, it's all good ;-)

er...uh...okay

[Em Emalb]

Look people, tragedies happen all the time. For every poor kid beaten to death in China at a "gaming addiction recovery camp", there's thousands more dying of starvation and illnesses in other parts of the world.

This isn't news. This is China. Do you expect differently?

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[Guse]

Wow. Not to let me heart bleed all over the place here, but... what? This was a needless death in a camp that didn't need to exist run by instructors who used "punishment" that wasn't appropriate. He had an "internet addiction"... he wasn't a murderer. You don't think this is somehow newsworthy on a site devoted to geeks and geek-related stuff? I just love these "so what people die every day" type posts. So, just to be clear, it's overkill to mourn a school shooting because more people are dying in Darfur, right?

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[Dr.Merkwurdigeliebe]

A larger tragedy doesn't make this one any less important. It is more relatable, too: ./ers probably feel more in common with this kid that 3 year olds dying in Somalia, so it's news here. I think the shocking thing is *why* he died - someone killed him. He didn't just starve or get malaria or something - he was murdered.

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[eldavojohn]

Look people, tragedies happen all the time. For every poor kid beaten to death in China at a "gaming addiction recovery camp", there's thousands more dying of starvation and illnesses in other parts of the world.

This isn't news. This is China. Do you expect differently?

So because the numbers are small, we should ignore it? If you were raped and murdered we could go to the police with your logic and say, "Look, for every person raped and murdered thousands die in automobile accidents on the streets so don't waste your time with this case."

The fact that 'internet addiction' is ill defined and that this was a CHILD not an adult and the fact that it's government run should cause alarm bells to ring even if it is only one case. How do you know the action of beating children is not commonplace and applied to thousands of so called "internet addicts"? How do you know this isn't an attempt to weed out would-be dissidents at an early age?

Your compliance amazes me. Yes, hunger and starvation is a problem but so is this we can report about this on Slashdot and read about hunger and food shortages on CNN.

I'm sorry but "this is China" does not cause me to close my eyes to unalienable human rights that every human being in the world deserves!

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[ViViDboarder]

Especially since many /.ers would probably qualify for Internet Addiction along with all of 4chan. :P

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[Shakrai]

The fact that 'internet addiction' is ill defined and that this was a CHILD not an adult and the fact that it's government run should cause alarm bells to ring even if it is only one case.

If your alarm bells weren't ringing about China long before this incident then I'd say that you haven't been paying much attention to the last 40 years of Chinese history.

Your compliance amazes me.

You are throwing stones about compliance? You fucking hypocrite. You are sitting on /. typing your rant on a computer that was largely made with Chinese parts/labor, probably wearing shoes/clothing that were made in China and god knows what else. I'm sorry but you don't get to throw stones when you live in a glass house.

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[rxan]

What is more interesting to slashdot users: someone dies at Internet addiction camp, or people dying from starvation in third world countries? Just saying, the context is slashdot, and in this context it is news.

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[Anonymous Coward]

So you're saying we should all just sit down and shut up? That the only people who have any right to be pissed off about what happened fab'ed their own chips, washed their own PCB, and are currently packing up to fight the PRC with their own bare hands? Up yours, you cock. Go shove your feigned righteous indignation.

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[Anonymous Coward]

This isn't news. THIS! IS! CHINA!

Lameness filter encountered. Post aborted!
Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.

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[Shakrai]

No, everybody has a right to be pissed. They just don't have the right to call out others as being complicit in Chinese crimes when they themselves are buying products that prop up the regime.

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[jandersen]

This isn't news. This is China. Do you expect differently?

From you? Not really. From people like you, I expect braindead nonsense whenever the subject contains the word "China" or other related subjects.

For the rest of us - I think it is worth noting that TFA mentions that "a police officer" states that "We are investigating a case where a high school student was beaten to death by his camp supervisors. The case is still under investigation" - IOW, a representative of the local officialdom talks openly about this case to a newsagency, in much the same way as a London police officer would, and refuses to give further details because they are still investigating, just like elsewhere in the world.

The reason I feel the need to draw attention to this is, that it seems to escape the attention of some. Do I need to spell it out any further? There is no "Government Coverup" here; no reasons to hate the Chinese for being Chinese.

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[eldavojohn]

You fucking hypocrite. You are sitting on /. typing your rant on a computer that was largely made with Chinese parts/labor, probably wearing shoes/clothing that were made in China and god knows what else. I'm sorry but you don't get to throw stones when you live in a glass house.

I submitted this story in an attempt to raise awareness in our community about a death in an internet addiction camp. Who knows how many others there have been prior to this? And what, stone thrower, have you done?

And now you're criticizing me for purchasing Chinese products? What the hell does that have to do with this? You think the solution is for us to band together and boycott Chinese products? Do you really believe that causing their economic structure to collapse would be the answer? Did trade embargoes work for North Korea and pre-war Iraq?

I'm an American citizen, I have no control over the sovereign nation of China. All I can hope to do is get word out to everyone around the world and hopefully spread news to the citizens of China so they take action. A revolution from the outside is meaningless and often dangerous/deadly/destructive.

I don't want Chinese people to suffer, that's it. I don't care if their system is Communist, Capitalist, Dictatorship or Democracy. Get the word out so they fix it. Go ahead and call me a hypocrite but I'm doing what little I can by spreading facts and news ... not pushing my ideals and isms on the sovereign people of China. Basic human rights are the only thing I push and I'm prepared to argue that.

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[LoyalOpposition]

If your alarm bells weren't ringing about China long before...

Big "if". Or maybe I should say "really big 'if'". It's like that Twinkie(TM) in Ghostbusters. It's thirty-five feet long, weighing approximately six hundred pounds.

You are sitting on /. typing your rant on a computer that was largely made with Chinese parts/labor, probably wearing shoes/clothing that were made in China and god knows what else. I'm sorry but you don't get to throw stones when you live in a glass house.

Objection, your honor. Assumes facts not in evidence. Strawman. I've always been amazed at the assumption that a culture should be made to starve and otherwise live in abject poverty just so that someone else can have the privilege of criticizing.

-Loyal

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[Manfred Maccx]

/. seriously need to find another way of distributing the mod points...Why is this guy modded Troll?? My guess is that most people who get points don't even know what moderating means. A shame..

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[Anonymous Coward]

Why is this guy modded Troll??

Probably because he was trolling.

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[Anonymous Coward]

./ers probably feel more in common with this kid that 3 year olds dying in Somalia, so it's news here..

Not to mention dotslashers.

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[Anonymous Coward]

4chan?

My addiction has reached 12chan levels.

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[Anonymous Coward]

Are you stupid or dumb? The Chinese government will continue to hold power whether or not you buy products from Chinese companies.

Did trade sanctions remove Castro, Kim Jong Il, or Saddam Hussein from power?

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[Em Emalb]

No, I didn't say that. What I said was, IT'S FUCKING CHINA! What do you expect? For every kid that dies in a gaming camp, there's thousands more that simply "disappear".

C'mon. NO, IMO this isn't news for nerds. This is news for politicians.

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[DrLang21]

This is especially sad to me because I'm not really against the idea of an "Internet addiction camp" in general. Real addiction can come in many forms, and it deserves being considered for treatment. But this just shows once again how (in this case very ironically) out of touch Chinese officials are with the concept of moderation.

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[Anonymous Coward]

If you've been paying attention to the last 40 years of Chinese history, you'd know China is better off now than it has ever been.

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[Skillet5151]

Just because China has a "communist" government doesn't mean they murder children at random. The Cold War is over, you can come outside now.

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[kaizendojo]

While I agree with most of what you had to say, I find it interesting that *this* makes news on slashdot while hundreds of people in the US are beaten (and sometimes killed) for being gay, but we don't seem to be as outraged. Thousands are routinely abused in mental institutions and elder care facilities (and again, many die) and again, it's not as apparent that slashdotters feel the need to draw attention to it. Is this because it's our *own* dirty laundry or simply because it didn't involve the words "internet addiction"? The OP mentions electroshock as being only recently banned, but it was routinely used here in the US for everything from dementia to compulsive behavior and is STILL used in the US to treat severe depression. It just reminds me of the kind of cultural hypocrisy you see in things like Discovery Channel's Whale Wars - US whale activists fight with Japanese whalers, (who utilize every part of the whale, btw) when the US used to slaughter entire whale populations wholesale, only to extract the oil and leave the carcasses to rot. The US helped drive the whales into extinction, and now we have this "born again virgin" attitude about other countries. I'm just saying if we spent half as much time cleaning our own back yards, we wouldn't have time to complain about our neighbors. You want to bring attention to injustices? There are plenty here to work on.

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[nobodylocalhost]

There is a larger problem. Chinese parents _paid_ money to send their kids into these needless camps to be "cured" of this so called "internet addiction". It's exactly the same as how American parents _paid_ money to send their kids into these needless camps to be "cured" of homosexuality. In the end, it's those panicky, ill informed, and lazy parents who entrust others with their children without actually bother doing proper research on the subject matter, the people who operate the camp, and their own children that cause pointless deaths like this. I am rather disappointed in the Chinese population today. In all honesty, learning from the western culture doesn't mean they should replicate mistakes in the western cultures too.

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[Em Emalb]

From you? Not really. From people like you, I expect braindead nonsense whenever the subject contains the word "China" or other related subjects.

You have the intelligence of a small rodent. Oh look, I can say unpleasant things about people on the internet too! Woohoo! Look at me, being all uncivil.

You said this drivel "I think it is worth noting that TFA mentions that "a police officer" states that "We are investigating a case where a high school student was beaten to death by his camp supervisors. The case is still under investigation" - IOW, a representative of the local officialdom talks openly about this case to a newsagency, in much the same way as a London police officer would, and refuses to give further details because they are still investigating, just like elsewhere in the world."

LOL, WHAT?!?! You think it's "worth noting" that this time, instead of COVERING UP the whole "beating a kid to death within a day of him coming to the camp where his parents paid money for him to be so he could battle his internet addiction" they actually brought it to light? Never mind the glaring "THEY HAVE A CAMP WHERE THEY SEND KIDS WHO SPEND TIME ON THE INTERNET SO THEY CAN RE-EDUCATE THEM". Yeah, let's gloss right over that point, shall we. No, the news here, for twits like you is that this time, China wasn't able to cover it up.

Here, from the article, since maybe you'll read it here:

"He signed the camp agreement that said it aimed to help children to become independent and rectify their bad habitats by "close management with training teachers."

"Our methods are tough but do not include torture or other methods that might damage a child's health," reads the mission statement.

But his son was put in solitary confinement within hours of his arrival and was then beaten to death by his trainers after they "scolded" him for running too slowly, Deng said."

Only in China would an addiction to the internet, whatever the hell that means = forced running. And not only that, but BEATINGS and solitary confinement when said kid could not "keep up". So good for them for reporting it. LOL, yet you think I'm the one that's brain-dead.

I hope you don't fall off that high horse you're on, you might break your neck or something.

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[Dragonslicer]

While I agree with most of what you had to say, I find it interesting that *this* makes news on slashdot while hundreds of people in the US are beaten (and sometimes killed) for being gay, but we don't seem to be as outraged. Thousands are routinely abused in mental institutions and elder care facilities (and again, many die) and again, it's not as apparent that slashdotters feel the need to draw attention to it.

Unfortunately, something that happens frequently isn't considered "news", no matter how much of a tragedy it is.

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[Aphoxema]

You are throwing stones about compliance? You fucking hypocrite. You are sitting on /. typing your rant on a computer that was largely made with Chinese parts/labor, probably wearing shoes/clothing that were made in China and god knows what else. I'm sorry but you don't get to throw stones when you live in a glass house.

These aren't logically related arguments. Though China's method and source of labor is largely tied to the government, one does not definitely rely on the other.

People also fail to understand the many layers and the sheer number of people that make up China's typically oppressive government. Mandates from the "top" can very much take immediate action but within the lesser structure decisions can be met with confusion, disorder and lead to unsightly results. This is probably what caused the mess at Tiananman Square.

Of course, as a very effective whole, PRC will never admit to the problems that plague the system. Minorities will often wreak havoc to the image of the government with their indiscretions for years to come.

Though I'm no fan of Communism at this extreme, they could have a very good thing going if they weren't squeezing so much blood from stones.

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[Anonymous Coward]

Replace "China" with "US" and "beaten to death" with "shot", still feeling the same ?

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[Anonymous Coward]

Yes. That's the _larger_ problem. The stuff about dying is just gravy.

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[Stargoat]

OK. The Chinese government murderers children at random and they also happen to be communist. Come on, get serious. Cold War or not, the leaders of China are murderers.

Several activists have been recently disappeared or brought up on trumped up charges precisely because the Chinese government murderers children at random. Or rather, they construct schools in earthquake zones so poorly that it accomplishes the same thing. This, despite the promises of Wen Jiabao and others that the earthquakes from 2008 would be treated seriously.

No. Wen, Hu, and all others who belong to the CCP are murderers.

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[Anonymous Coward]

No the stuff about dying is just a symptom of the underlying problem...try to follow the logical argument.

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[steelfood]

no reasons to hate the Chinese for being Chinese.

But then how will people justify their xenophobia?

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[Psyborgue]

If you're interesting on helping out on this issue stateside I can point you in a few directions. Check out Isaccorp.org or Cafety.org. Tell em "Psy" sent ya.

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[Fujisawa Sensei]

Just because China has a "communist" government doesn't mean they murder children at random. The Cold War is over, you can come outside now.

They are murderers and it has nothing to do with the label they stick on it on their government; they're a totalitarian regime.

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[neumayr]

I didn't read the article, this being slashdot and all, but I'm not sure this camp is something the government came up with. The parents paid $1000, and I assume that's US Dollars, which is a lot of money in a country where the per capita GDP is 6000$.
This camp seems more like a free enterprise, in all it's capitalist glory, trying to worry better-off parents into handing over the cash to cure their kids from the terrible ailment.
This doesn't seem to have anything to do with China being (kind of... in a way... well, not really) communist, or their government failing at moderation, but more with some overzealous fearmongers totally losing it.

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[oenone.ablaze]

By your argument, the Chinese murdered children at random because they underengineered some school houses in an earthquake-prone region. What about New Orleans, where our government, with a gajillion times the resources of an impoverished Chinese provincial town, failed to construct adequate levees in a similarly disaster-prone region and exacerbated the loss of life with inadequate relief efforts? Should I even mention the TVA coal ash spill ? While we don't have the level of political repression the Chinese government perpetrates, we had our fair share of coverups and misinformation surrounding both of those incidents. Please stop throwing stones--you're going to get our glass house shattered in short order.

Bringing the conversation back on topic, what happened was a tragedy and, in my humble estimation, could have happened anywhere in the world. The amount of abuse perpetrated in our nursing homes, for instance, is appalling. What caught my eye is that they even have camps in an attempt to address the issue of "internet addiction"--have you guys seen this elsewhere, or is it as Chinese a phenomenon as "fat camps" might be an American one?

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[nschubach]

It's an interesting argument (to me at least...) and I see it in the media and politics every day. People are more concerned about one death than they are about the implications to society in overreacting to that one death. "Someone died, therefore we must do everything in our power to stop it from happening again... even if it would bankrupt us and cause hundreds more deaths."

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[Shakrai]

By your argument, the Chinese murdered children at random because they underengineered some school houses in an earthquake-prone region. What about New Orleans, where our government, with a gajillion times the resources of an impoverished Chinese provincial town, failed to construct adequate levees in a similarly disaster-prone region and exacerbated the loss of life with inadequate relief efforts? Should I even mention the TVA coal ash spill [dailykos.com]?

Thousands of schoolchildren died as a result of the coal ash spill while our government arrested people who came to it seeking a redress of their grievances? Why wasn't this covered on the news?

or is it as Chinese a phenomenon as "fat camps" might be an American one?

I'm not aware of any fat camps where the government tells you that you have to go and punishes you if you refuse......

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[frank_adrian314159]

And now you're criticizing me for purchasing Chinese products? What the hell does that have to do with this?

Many of these products (and/or their parts/ingredients) are manufactured in prison labor camps where many more than one person has died. Not that I disagree with your rant, in general, but you should know that by buying Chinese products you are supporting a system that has killed many more than the unfortunate individual in this article. As such, your outrage over this death seems somewhat suspect, somewhat like a person's who condemns the death of baby seals, but sees no trouble having cows killed so he can eat.

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[DrLang21]

I'm not 100% certain about this camp, but a more expensive camp (10,000 yuan) in Daxing County is government funded and "run by an army colonel under the Beijing Military Hospital"

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[Shakrai]

And now you're criticizing me for purchasing Chinese products? What the hell does that have to do with this? You think the solution is for us to band together and boycott Chinese products? Do you really believe that causing their economic structure to collapse would be the answer?

I don't have the answer and no I wasn't criticizing you for purchasing Chinese products. I was criticizing you for telling the GP he was "compliant". My underlying point is that we are all "complaint" in one way or another with the crimes of the Chinese regime.

Did trade embargoes work for North Korea and pre-war Iraq?

Different situation. The Chinese actually have a pro-democracy movement. It can't get it's message out effectively right now because the Government counters it with "Do you really want Democracy? Look at all of the economic growth we are providing!" In that respect every person who buys goods made in China bears some measure of responsibility for helping that Government to retain power.

not pushing my ideals and isms on the sovereign people of China. Basic human rights are the only thing I push and I'm prepared to argue that.

I like how you say in the first sentence that you don't want to push your ideals on them and in the second sentence say you are prepared to push human rights. I'm sure it's occurred to you that different cultures might have a different conception of what "human rights" are.

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[digitalunity]

There was actually recently a case where a mother of a severely obese teenager was convicted of child abuse. The logic was that it was abusive for a parent to let their child eat so much that they attained a weight capable of causing life-altering side effects.

So maybe it's not illegal to be fat, but it might be illegal in your area to let your kid get too fat.

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[Martin Blank]

I think you're referring to the criminal child neglect charges against Jerri Gray, whose son Alexander Draper reached a weight of 550 pounds by age 14. No results have come of that case, but the case is still pending. She's not the first parent to be accused of child abuse in this fashion, but no other parents have served jail time if they were convicted.

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[digitalunity]

Maybe that's it. I guess I heard it wrong.

Regardless, the fact is that there are a huge number of factors that influence weight gain beyond just what a kid stuffs in his face including metabolism, physical activity frequency/duration/activity type, genetic predisposition, chemical imbalances, etc.

Aside from exercise and food consumption, many of these factors are beyond our control. I've known very obese people who eat less than I, and very skinny people who eat much more than I. To me, neglect is only justified if the weight is causing health problems AND the mother has not sought treatment for those medical problems. For example, untreated diabetes would be neglect to me.

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[Anonymous Coward]

So, just to be clear, it's overkill to mourn a school shooting because more people are dying in Darfur, right?

Yea, pretty much.

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[flibuste]

I don`t think you are thinking straight. Also, your argumentation is a little incoherent. You obviously needed to pick on someone today, and you fail at convincing.

Reading you, nobody should be outraged about anything because there's always worse, closer. That is the best way to never do or go against anything and raise nations of sheep.

I'm sure that yourself can find something that by using, "you are supporting a system that has killed many more", starting with the gas in your car, and that doesn't bother you, does it?

Please go find some other place to snipe at people. You're useless here, seriously.

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[jellybear]

They don't need my support. Anyway, all the dollars I spend on Chinese hardware gets recycled and invested in U.S. government bonds, without which, the U.S. would be bankrupt already.

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[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe it isn't because of their "communist" government.

Maybe it's because it's fucking China, and China sucks like that.

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[Anonymous Coward]

^ Misguided belief that democracy is a social panacea

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[Fulcrum of Evil]

Exactly how many people can get to 550 lbs at age 14 without help that borders on abuse? Metabolism is affected by activity levels, and kids should be at least somewhat active; what I'm saying boils down to so what? If the parents were doing their job, he might still be fat, but he wouldn't be literally round.

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[Fulcrum of Evil]

One person died due to abuse - why wouldn't we do what we can to prevent a recurrence?

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[joggle]

I'm not sure why you keep putting internet addiction in quotes. People can get addicted to anything, including playing games and surfing the web.

I had a roommate back in college who was so addicted to playing video games on his Sega that he skipped all of his classes and was operating on a 25-hr day for months until he finally dropped out of college (meaning he went to bed an hour and got up an hour later every day).

Obviously this particular addiction camp is insane, but there are other effective programs for dealing with all kinds of addictions and one could surely be made to help people like my old roommate.

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[dissy]

Look people, tragedies happen all the time. For every poor kid beaten to death in China at a "gaming addiction recovery camp", there's thousands more dying of starvation and illnesses in other parts of the world.

This isn't news. This is China. Do you expect differently?

So basically what you are saying is, you support and are for government murdering at will?

What a sick bastard you are!

I find it even more sickening that under your logic, if someone came and repeatedly raped your wife sister and mother, you would be OK with this, since it happens everyday.

The only upside is, at least you are OK with someone killing you, since killings happen every day.

PS, you sick bastard

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[lgw]

This is the country where when they shoot your child for being involved in a protest, they bill you for the bullet. The communist government deciding to punish a family by sending a random kid to "internet addiction camp", soldiers beating the kid to death just for fun, and then billing the family $1000 is totally in character for this totalitarian communist state. It's an easy assumption to make.

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[Anonymous Coward]

^ panacea is a fancy word.

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[Anonymous Coward]

^ likes pointy arrows.

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[7 digits]

Looks like there is a global market for that, then.

What about some sort of web-based seminar against internet addiction ?

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[Anonymous Coward]

You know, I bet you think that the people "on" that website really like you and consider you a friend, but actually, behind your back, they talk about how much of an ignorant fuck you are.

I have seen it happen countless times to people like you.

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[Anonymous Coward]

Uh, this was done by a privately run camp paid for by the parents, with little relation to the government.

Edit: captcha was regret, fitting

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[Anonymous Coward]

^ doesn't know they're called carets

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[Psyborgue]

Yip. And you know me so well.

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[DrLang21]

When did the Chinese government select this kid? His father voluntarily sought out the camp and paid $1024 without so much as a call from the government. Though honestly, that's almost more horrifying for the family. At least when the government forces your kid into a deathtrap, the family doesn't feel like it was their fault it happen.

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[Anonymous Coward]

"I'm sorry but "this is China" does not cause me to close my eyes to unalienable human rights that every human being in the world deserves!"

So what, you propose we go out again and beat CHINA this time around? No way.

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[nschubach]

I'm not specifically referring to this instance, but I agree that preventing it would be preferable as long as you are preventing it correctly. I'm referring more to the likes of the person that would rather sacrifice the ability for everyone in the country to leave the house at night because someone was shot or enforcing an overly strict requirement on something because of a fluke accident. (I basically read into the AC's post a bit more than I should have.)

My post also springs from this whole health care debacle we have going on here in the States. The system they want to implement is downright retarded and broken and they'd rather bankrupt the US and push it through than resolve it in other ways. (Bankrupt the country to give health care to people unwilling to use already available free clinics?) I guess it's the relationship between governmental programs gone wrong and health/death that got to me, sorry.

Re:er...uh...okay

[Fulcrum of Evil]

In all fairness, your description fits what we have now wrt health care. Never mind that most people don't have access to decent health care or they think they do until they get sick. Moving to a cheaper system like is used in places such as denmark can fix some of our problems while providing coverage to more people. The big wins will be removing health insurance providers who spend more on denying coverage than paying claims and reap obscene profits and a move to more preventative care - doctor visits are way cheaper than the ER, but if you don't have insurance, you go to the ER and don't pay.

Re:er...uh...okay

[digitalunity]

Maybe. There are well plotted average weight gain curves for teens and adults living varying levels of sedentary lifestyles.

I would bet a significant portion of the populace could not hit 550 pounds at any age without outside contributory factors beyond just a sedentary life.

Re:er...uh...okay

[Fulcrum of Evil]

I would go so far as to say 60% of the population couldn't hit 550 if they tried (don't try). On the flip side, it turns out that I can get to 200 and perhaps a little bit under with only the smallest awareness of what goes in my mouth.

Re:er...uh...okay

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, right, and the USA is a democracy and that's why there has never been any torture there, nor kids murdered in boot camps.

Re:er...uh...okay

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm not saying the other things you are talking about aren't bad, but this is /. You know, "news for nerds." We take interest when a teenager is beaten to death at a camp where he was sent to be treated for "Internet addiction."

If this were a gay discussion site, I'm sure we would be interested in violence against homosexuals. But this is a 'nerd' website, and we are very interested in violence against nerds. It's not that we don't care about violence towards other groups. It's just that other violence isn't on-topic for this site. There are plenty of other places to discuss violence aside from /.

Re:er...uh...okay

[Ihlosi]

But then how will people justify their xenophobia?

Don't you mean "sinophobia"?

Re:er...uh...okay

[Anonymous Coward]

Annoyance at homophobia may distract from the bigger picture. The "boot camp" method is dangerous even if the problem is not imaginary (truancy, drug use, whatever kids are doing these days). To be clear, such camps can be run civilly. On the other hand, they can be operated by Nietzche wannabes or flagellant religious ascetics who are plainly in the business of hurting little people who can't fight back. Isolating a youth from a bad influence to psychologically "detox" isn't a bad idea -- it would probably be in line with anyone's idea of best practices in parenting -- but forcing a well-fed kid that hasn't walked a mile in years to hike over a mountain on scanty rations is outrageous. Without VERY careful monitoring, these rehabilitative retreats can quickly devolve into torture camps. Look into the work of Philip Zimbardo for a more academic look at the effects of total institutions on both their clients and their operators.

Re:er...uh...okay

[Anonymous Coward]

For there to be "sinophobia" doesn't god have to exist?

Re:er...uh...okay

[Ihlosi]

For there to be "sinophobia" doesn't god have to exist?

No, you're thinking of hamartophobia.

Re:er...uh...okay

[Anonymous Coward]

Whoosh.

Re:er...uh...okay

[easyTree]

Come on, get serious. Cold War or not, the leaders of China are murderers.

Need I remind you that the USAnian government had orchestrated and committed more acts of terrorism than the rest of the world combined. Surely then, that counts as murder? or is it only wrong when it's non-americans?

Moderation hint: this is factually accurate and stated without intention to cause a flame-war, so 'troll' isn't appropriate...

Re:er...uh...okay

[easyTree]

While we don't have the level of political repression the Chinese government perpetrates

Oh really? Why don't *you* try getting elected to high office whilst openly stating that you are an atheist ?

Re:er...uh...okay

[easyTree]

I'm not really against the idea of an "Internet addiction camp" in general

You realise that they almost certainly have no wi-fi there, yes?

i am addicted to the ineternet

[FudRucker]

i would quit but the withdrawels are fatal

Re:i am addicted to the ineternet

[vintagepc]

Solution: Greasemonky script that retrieves a list of updated goatse-style sites... and at random intervals redirects you to one of those pages instead of the link you clicked. Granted, a different kind of shock therapy, but I'd imagine its pretty effective. (or at least, you won't browse if there's someone else in the room!)

Re:i am addicted to the ineternet

[Hal_Porter]

Solution: Greasemonky script that retrieves a list of updated goatse-style sites... and at random intervals redirects you to one of those pages instead of the link you clicked.
Granted, a different kind of shock therapy, but I'd imagine its pretty effective. (or at least, you won't browse if there's someone else in the room!)

Solution: Greasemonky script that retrieves a list of updated goatse-style sites... and at random intervals redirects you to one of those pages instead of the link you clicked. Granted, a different kind of shock therapy, but I'd imagine its pretty effective. (or at least, you won't browse if there's someone else in the room!)

STOP WASTING TIME ON /. AND GO TO THE GYM, PORKY.

This post is not a troll or flamebait, it is shock therapy

Re:i am addicted to the ineternet

[vintagepc]

I said SHOCK, not INSULT.

Re:i am addicted to the ineternet

[Hal_Porter]

BOO!

Re:i am addicted to the ineternet

[castironpigeon]

Actually, it's BOLD, CAPITALIZED WORDS. Neither shocking nor therapeutic.

Upshot

[decipher_saint]

On the upshot, that kid is no longer addicted to gaming...

Re:Upshot

[Zantac69]

Funny - sounds like the way some places deal with homeless people. Round them up, ship them out - BINGO - noone is homeless!

Re:Upshot

[Anonymous Coward]

i don't see a problem with that.

Re:Upshot

[Anonymous Coward]

That's because you're not homeless yet. Just wait until you lose your job and cant afford rent or your house payment.
 
...Wait what am I saying? I guess I meant just wait until your parents lose their jobs.

Re:Upshot

[Hoi Polloi]

He obviously forgot to use his speed buff.

Re:Upshot

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't worry, I am sure he is a productive member of society rather than trying to leech off of society while still claiming to be a poor victim.

Re:Upshot

[Anonymous Coward]

Shut up you right-wing nigger.

Re:Upshot

[Anonymous Coward]

Well THAT's an interesting juxtaposition of terms!

Re:Upshot

[MightyYar]

Yeah, that sounds exactly the same as killing someone.

In New York City, you can get an airline/bus/train ticket out of town if you are homeless, so long as there is something awaiting you at the destination. This seems like common sense to me... send people back to where their support structure is. Even the most fucked up people usually have SOMEONE who still cares about them.

Re:Upshot

[ChefInnocent]

Yeah, but I think the "cure" is worse than the disease in this case.

Re:Upshot

[selven]

Don't worry, he'll have a computer in his grave so he'll be happily playing the not-known-to-the-living-world Scourge expansion.

Re:Upshot

[Anonymous Coward]

If they have housing at the location they ask for a ticket to, then indeed as you say, "BINGO - noone is homeless".

I don't neccessarily see how treating people in a good way is relevant for a discussion about mistreated Chinese WoW addicts.

Re:Upshot

[Anonymous Coward]

not geeks. you can fail at life, fail as a geek, sometimes fail at both but you can never be truly succesful at both

Re:Upshot

[Artifakt]

There's two events that have little in common here. A local or state government could actively check to see if there are family or friends in some other area who have the intentions of helping the homeless person and at least some potential to actually help, or they could fake it, by just taking the homeless persons word, or not bothering with a few questions in a phone conversation (what if the homeless person's potential life support is an 84 year old mother, with no other relatives living around her, surviving on Social Security only, and there's a family history of domestic violence?). Yes, it's good if the homeless person has someone who still cares, but isn't it also necessary that the person actually be in a state where they can contribute more than good intentions?
      I'm glad you qualified your point by saying " usually have SOMEONE" and didn't exaggerate to claim there was always someone. I take the way you used all caps on someone to mean "not necessarily a perfect solution, but someone, and someone is generally better than no one at all", in which case, I agree. I think you need to further qualify it though. Sometimes there's a whole family that cares, sometimes only one person still gives a damn, sometimes it's (unfortunately) none. Some people who care are so screwed up themselves they won't do the things that actually help. Some people who care don't have any spare resources with which to help.
      Many of these homeless persons are in trouble with the police at the time they seize upon the offer to be sent to somewhere. They may take the option simply because they think it beats jail. Unless the local government actually has reasonable cause to think the problem person may get better help or become less of a social problem somewhere else, getting them out of the area isn't really done with the intent of helping, just of making them some other locale's problem.

Re:Upshot

[MightyYar]

Unless the local government actually has reasonable cause to think the problem person may get better help or become less of a social problem somewhere else, getting them out of the area isn't really done with the intent of helping, just of making them some other locale's problem.

I don't really have a problem with that, though. So long as you are not kicking them out, and they are leaving on their own volition... what's wrong with getting rid of a problem if the problem wants to leave? I can especially see the attraction if I were in a city that is "friendly" to homeless people. San Francisco, for instance, attracts homeless people like a magnet from all over the US... why should this one city have the burden of caring for the entire nation's crazy population? If these people want to go back where they came from, more power to them.

Re:Upshot

[StikyPad]

San Francisco, for instance, attracts homeless people like a magnet from all over the US...

And San Diego, and many cities in Texas. Turns out that warm climates without alligators are desirable when you have no shelter.

Re:Upshot

[phulegart]

As someone who has been homeless three different times in my life... and the most recent experience lasted for over a year, I'd have to say you are quite wrong in your assumption of the percentages of how many homeless are in trouble with the law. It is not Most. Technically speaking, ALL homeless people are "in trouble" with the law because they are indigent. You didn't mean that, however. You meant that they were in trouble for some other issue... like an alcohol or drug or violence related issue. You meant that there was some valid issue where there had been a confrontation or clash between this homeless person and the police.

The fact of the matter is that Most homeless people lost their income, then lost their homes. Pretty straight-forward progression there. Some might have been kicked out by the police at a landlord's insistence, but just as many left before it ever came to that.

Police don't want to deal with homeless people. They don't just throw them into jail. Police ignore homeless people just like everyone else does, unless they are being forced to deal with them due to complaints.

Try to imagine how difficult it is to get a job when you have no address. Try hard. You still can't appreciate it until you are in the middle of it. Oh, sure there are places in certain cities that will allow you to use their official address as your own, but those organizations are known to the potential employers that homeless people all apply to. Let's face it... when you are homeless, you don't have the option of trying to get a job as a banker. So, when 6 people are all applying for jobs, all with the same "600 Court St." address... those applications get filed away, or in the Circular file.

I really do dislike when people who have no experience with being homeless, attempt to talk about the subject. It's not like they ever took the time to talk with a homeless person over a cup of coffee.

Beware

[sunderland56]

If internet addition is now punishable by death, Slashdot is going to become a very, very lonely place.

Re:Beware

[Icegryphon]

suddenly it is playing in my head:

I'm so ronery
So ronery
So ronery and sadry arone

Re:Beware

[nozzo]

maaan you made me laugh out loud at work with that one.

Re:Beware

[Anonymous Coward]

If addition is punishable by death, what for the multiplication or exponentiation ?

Re:Beware

[elrous0]

He's not ronery anymore, he has Bill Crinton visiting to keep him company!

Re:Beware

[Anonymous Coward]

I imagine a lot of people here already hopelessly lonely...?

Re:Beware

[PeelBoy]

..and we shall call it 'internet subtraction'.

Re:Beware

[Anonymous Coward]

>Implying that Slashdot isn't a very, very lonely place

Re:Beware

[BooRolla]

I'm willing to say /. is a pretty lonely place today (only half joking)

Re:Beware

[Narnie]

I'm not addicted, I can quit anytime I want.

I just don't feel like quitting yet.
Besides, quitting is for loosers.

Re:Beware

[CharlyFoxtrot]

If internet addition is now punishable by death, Slashdot is going to become a very, very lonely place.

*checks friends list* "You are alone in the world."

Bawww ?

Re:Beware

[cailith1970]

Yep, quitting the internet is easy, I've done it HEAPS of times... :)

Meet the new China...same as the old China

[Mr. Underbridge]

Perhaps for Senshan it would have been better to let him endure his cruel affliction instead of having his parents pay over $1,000 to have him beaten to death?

And knowing China, they probably also charged his parents for the cost of the stick used to beat him.

Also, I don't know much about these "internet addiction" facilities. Are we talking about people who spend too much time playing WoW, or dissidents who use the internet for communication? Somehow I'm seeing this as being a gulag for political prisoners, but maybe that's just me being cynical.

Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China

[FooAtWFU]

The sad thing is, I don't think they're even a gulag for political prisoners -- if they were, the beatings and such would at least make a modicum of sense (a perverted one, but sense nonetheless)... it seems they're doing this for their own valued citizens. Fun, hmm?

Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China

[icegreentea]

Maybe there are some camps that are gulags. But I think the majority of the cases are 'legit'. My family is Chinese (from Taiwan, pretty much same culture) and we live in Canada, so I got a relatively watered down version of the 'Asian/Chinese Parents' thing. And I can really see parents sending off their kids for spending too much time playing video games. Among my circle of friends, I know a lot of kids who just utterly fucked up school from gaming too much (this is before alcohol and drugs... and forget about girls), and I know a lot of their parents would try to do more. But really, a motivated teenager is going to somehow get around nearly everything their parents will try. I remember when my parents locked up the TV behind a cabinet so my brother and I would spend less time watching TV/playing SNES (yeah, that was a while ago). We just took the cabinet doors off its hinges whenever they were gone (even the best parents can't be there all the time).

So, given conditions in China (those parents are bound to be away working more than the typical parents here), as well as how addicting those games really are, and that Chinese parents generally really do want their kids to 'succeed', I really can see parents sending kids off to Internet (or Gaming) addiction camp. I mean hell, we have Fat Camps in North America to deal with our problem with obese kids, they have Internet Addiction Camps to deal with their problem with kids gaming way too much. This is no excuse for abuse and killing the poor kid. That shit's fucking horrible. Fuckers should be put in jail. And I think they will be. China might be a totalitarian government, but they still have to pretend to care.

Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China

[jc42]

I don't think they're even a gulag for political prisoners -- if they were, the beatings and such would at least make a modicum of sense (a perverted one, but sense nonetheless)...

Ah, but there are lots of parts of the world where nerdy kids are routinely beaten up by the local gangs of jocks. It's socially acceptable in much of the US and the UK, and any number of other countries.

Of course, they usually don't kill their victims. That's usually reserved for kids that are suspected of being "gay".

Dunno how that dynamic works out in China, though.

Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China

[Anonymous Coward]

a 16 year old political prisoner?!

Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China

[bluefoxlucid]

Of course, they usually don't kill their victims. That's usually reserved for kids that are suspected of being "gay".

I love this, because some of us here actually broke the barriers, and straight guys are actually standing up for gay guys. It's awesome, because when you see some kid getting hit and beaten until he's bruised and bleeding, you can pretty much walk up, grab a nearby metal stick, and start busting people in the face for being assholes. It's always fun to rip the shit out of people for being total dickwads, you don't have to be gay to enjoy that!

Actually it's funny, people might still think you're a faggot for standing up for a faggot; but you can beat them into a bloody mass, so who gives a fuck what they think anyhow? If they want to do something about it... well, they can't, there's that whole beaten-to-a-bloody-mass thing when they jump you in the alley.

Not being an asshole has many advantages.....

Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China

[Anonymous Coward]

yeah because jocks beating up nerds is government funded murder

what stupid world do you live in where that is socially acceptable? it happens but its not considered acceptable. and its not the government commiting the acts on an industrial level, it is bad members of the public not being stopped by the government for reasons such as, it flies under the radar.

sorry, china still sucks compared to the us and uk and your crappy comparison didnt help. china is not a great country despite the fact its on an economic upturn.. its quite a shitty country. I'd be willing to bet that the standard of living is still better in america than china for the majority of citiziens despite how we are worse economically because at least our citiziens arent treated like shit by government mandate, just by government fuck up

Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China

[Runefox]

at least our citiziens arent treated like shit by government mandate, just by government fuck up

You know, I have to wonder which is worse. I mean, at least when it's mandated, they're doing something properly.

Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China

[the_one(2)]

you can pretty much walk up, grab a nearby metal stick, and start busting people in the face for being assholes. It's always fun to rip the shit out of people for being total dickwads, you don't have to be gay to enjoy that!

You know... lawful evil is not all that much better than chaotic evil =)

Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China

[steelfood]

China might be a totalitarian government, but they still have to pretend to care.

No, they have to care. Otherwise, there'll be unrest all over, and the minority groups like the Uyghurs and Tibetans will take advantage of the situation to cause more problems. Local governments aren't necessarily subject to the same restrictions as the central government, but if things start getting too ridiculous, the low-level politicans in charge will pay.

Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't think you can blame this one on the Chinese government.

It's not a gulag, I gather it's a privately run camp. Read the original article - he was sent there by his parents.

I'm not surprised the camp managers are stonewalling. Given Chinese justice, his tormentors are likely to be executed - for murder.

Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China

[ElephanTS]

... and forget about girls

You must be new here

Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China

[Hatta]

Maybe there are some camps that are gulags. But I think the majority of the cases are 'legit'.

It's not like the same thing doesn't happen in the US. A kid in Florida died after being beaten by his boot camp instructors. The beating was even caught on tape. The murderers got off scot free.

At least that incident prompted Florida to close its boot camps. Hopefully this incident will get China to close its camps.

Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China

[hot soldering iron]

I was born a poor, geeky child... really. My Momma told us,"When there's a difference in size, equalize." She didn't care what we did to them as long as her little boys came home alive. That shit hole town in Texas definitely taught me to be a cut-throat, mean-ass, sonofabitch in a fight.

Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China

[Anonymous Coward]

Fuckin primitive Chinese... they are only good at treating it's people like slaves and producing junk that the stupid yankees buy... keep feeding them uncle Sam and you will see...

Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China

[Anonymous Coward]

My family is Chinese (from Taiwan, pretty much same culture) and we live in Canada

Based on your family's history, I dare say that somewhere along the line you guys decided you weren't down with where Chinese culture was headed. You might want to have a chat with your grandparents, if they're still around.

Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China

[bluefoxlucid]

Bipolar lawful-evil/chaotic-good.

Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China

[Anonymous Coward]

Succeed in getting beaten to death. Education the traditional Chinese way. Right put in jail, in a country like China which cares about it's citizens^H^H^H^H^H^Hhumans about as much as most people in the west care about cockroaches.

Melamine anyone? Would you like a side order of lead with that?

Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China

[Artifakt]

Yeah, but until they get enough power to bend the laws their way, which one would you rather have living next door?

Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China

[Stratoukos]

You know... lawful evil is not all that much better than chaotic evil =)

This is chaotic good not lawfull evil. He used socially unacceptable ways for a good reason

Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China

[HungWeiLo]

And I can really see parents sending off their kids for spending too much time playing video games.

It's not exclusively Asian parents. I've personally known several upper-middle class white families who sent their kids to unofficial drug treatment boot camps in Mexico. Physical beatings are part of the regiment.

Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China

[shutdown -p now]

It's not evil to fight evil.

Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China

[dissy]

You know... lawful evil is not all that much better than chaotic evil =)

But I would bet that being either one is much better than being beaten to a bloody pulp due to your sexual orientation...

Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China

[Anonymous Coward]

His attitude is Chaotic Good:stop the wrong in it's tracks regardless of legal consequences.
You are Lawful Neutral:call the cops and watch.

Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China

[the_one(2)]

Intention matters as well. Does he enjoy helping more or doing violence more? I agree that it's probably more chaotic good than lawful evil though. I was trying to be trollish/funny/YMMV

Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China

[mdwh2]

Not that it justifies the murder, but note that the boot camps in the US are used for juvenille criminals (joyriding, in this case). In China, you get sent there for spending too much time on the Internet (so called "addiction" - but I've seen no evidence that they require a medical diagnosis to be sent there, not have I seen any scientific evidence that these "boot camps" are an effective way to treat such alleged addictions). AFAICT, these are private institutions, and nothing to do with the justice system.

Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China

[Ihmhi]

Who cares if someone thinks you're gay?

Anyone who's a decent human being IMO doesn't give a shit what other people think about their sexual orientation. I'd stand up for anyone who's getting the shit beat outta them.

Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China

[Pyrion]

It tends to last a lot longer though. Usually several orders of magnitude longer.

Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China

[Pyrion]

Also known as "Lawful Stupid."

Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China

[Pyrion]

But really, a motivated teenager is going to somehow get around nearly everything their parents will try.

The simplest approach would be to get your parents addicted. That's what I did. My mom would tend to complain that I "spend too much time on the computer," so what did I do? I built her one. Now she's as addicted as I am.

Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China

[Anonymous Coward]

It's funny, I was born a really big geeky child and was always told; "Watch out for the short ones, they've got something to prove".

I could honestly kill the buggers that suggest on the first day "finding the biggest guy there and kicking him in to prove yourself" :S

Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China

[bluntman2008]

I remember when my parents locked up the TV behind a cabinet so my brother and I would spend less time watching TV/playing SNES (yeah, that was a while ago)..

My parents did the same thing! That's how I learn't to pick locks.

Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, I enjoy my chaotic neutral demigod status.

I hope you like waffles!

Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China

[Anonymous Coward]

Indeed not, but convert his attitude to a slightly more managed and respectful one (use the bare minimum of violence to protect whoever needs to be protected) and you get a chaotic good alignment, which is pretty much legitimate in and unto itself.

Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China

[Anonymous Coward]

True...but it's legal! ;)

Is he actually the first person who has died?

[IronDragon]

I can only wonder if there have been other deaths in this program that did not make the news.

Re:Is he actually the first person who has died?

[ausekilis]

What is truly remarkable about this particular story is they say their son started this training Saturday, and was declared dead on Sunday (3 am was it?). Even worse, the mission statement said their methods were "harsh, but no harm will be done", yet the body was bloody and showed signs of restraint and struggle (handcuff bruising on his wrists).

The poor kid didn't even make it one day, yet the camp took a stand much like the Chinese government, denying that anything happened and that the kid had a fever. Apparently in China fevers involve a bruised/bloodied face and handcuffs. China has had attention called to it's human rights violations before, now that we are seeing the murder of a child that didn't do anything wrong in worldwide news, maybe we'll start seeing global pressure on China to change their ways a bit.

Re:Is he actually the first person who has died?

[ZackSchil]

The father is rich, well-connected to the police, and hellbent on getting the word out, yet he couldn't even get more than the most basic details of the crime. It's an extremely sad state of affairs.

Re:Is he actually the first person who has died?

[Anonymous Coward]

The poor kid didn't even make it one day, yet the camp took a stand much like the Chinese government, denying that anything happened and that the kid had a fever. Apparently in China fevers involve a bruised/bloodied face and handcuffs.

If the beating doesn't kill you, the (untreated, fever causing) infection would.

Re:Is he actually the first person who has died?

[Anonymous Coward]

That's the Chinese Fever...

Re:Is he actually the first person who has died?

[kj_kabaje]

doubtful... the market is too big, apparently.

Re:Is he actually the first person who has died?

[bluefoxlucid]

Mind you, when they do figure out what happened, they'll probably line the accused up on their knees and walk down the line putting bullets in the backs of their heads.

Re:Is he actually the first person who has died?

[maxume]

Maybe. The problem is that many westerners are comfortable with harsh treatment for people they have mentally classified as 'bad'.

For example, see the blase attitude of many Americans towards prison rape and so forth.

Re:Is he actually the first person who has died?

[Belegothmog]

China has had attention called to it's human rights violations before, now that we are seeing the murder of a child that didn't do anything wrong in worldwide news, maybe we'll start seeing global pressure on China to change their ways a bit.

Dear China,

Please stop killing the internet addicts. We really need the money that you're loaning to us to finance our bailout and people may become a little uncomfortable if they ever link our financial system with murder in their little heads. While the chances of this are remote, and the chances of them actually boycotting Chinese made goods even less, it would still make our lives and our re-elections campaigns much easier if you could stop, or at least cover up better, these little murders.

Thank you for your time and money,
The U.S. Government

Re:Is he actually the first person who has died?

[Anonymous Coward]

China won't change.

The Chinese do not care about human life. Any posturings to the contrary are to keep manufacturing capital flowing in and that's all.

Re:Is he actually the first person who has died?

[Demonantis]

From the article it says that the father had to go to a police officer he knew to find out. I wouldn't be surprised either. What gets me is why they have to protest for this to be investigated. There are probably a bunch of kids that saw it happen not to mention the doctors and nurses. It should be a pretty clear cut case. I also don't know what the principal was thinking. You could not cover up that big of an incident.

Re:Is he actually the first person who has died?

[TheGratefulNet]

maybe we'll start seeing global pressure on China to change their ways a bit.

you're new, here, aren't you?

2000lb gorillas don't take to 'rational talk' and china does not listen to the world.

if we stopped buying walmart goods for a month, they'd listen. but the US won't do that. we need cheap goods that break quickly and are unsafe! china to the rescue.

Re:Is he actually the first person who has died?

[jc42]

The father is rich, well-connected to the police, and hellbent on getting the word out, yet he couldn't even get more than the most basic details of the crime.

And this probably answers the question posed in this thread's title. If a rich, well-connected father has to fight the "blue wall of silence", what chance have other parents who aren't so rich and/or well-connected?

Whenever you find only the powerful being successful at publicising bad news, you should assume that you're just seeing the "tip of the iceberg", and the less powerful are being successfully kept out of sight.

(OTOH, there's the argument that poorer people probably can't afford to send their kids to such camps. ;-)

Re:Is he actually the first person who has died?

[Anonymous Coward]

China has had attention called to it's human rights violations before, now that we are seeing the murder of a child that didn't do anything wrong in worldwide news, maybe we'll start seeing global pressure on China to change their ways a bit.

As people from China on this list will tell you, Chinese do not have the same attitude towards the individual that westerners do. There is no individual to a Chinese, only state. The Chinese view of society is much like an ant farm, with all of the insignificant drones working, toiling, and, if needed, suffering, for the common good or central authority.

As a westerner, you should not criticize or worry about how the Chinese view the individual and how they have, to the outside world, an apparently hostile attitude towards human rights.

Such condemnation would be culturally insensitive of you. Such a condemnation would be like trying to "get" the opera if you have never been exposed. To the unrefined ear, opera is but howling and is most painful to endure at best. To those raised with it, the pain is a way of life; comforting--something of which to be proud.

Don't let your western ideology and cultural ignorance show. It's better to let China be China and the Chinese be proud of their culture and oppression of the individual.

Re:Is he actually the first person who has died?

[Fulcrum of Evil]

Apparently in China fevers involve a bruised/bloodied face and handcuffs.

Why do you think avian flu was such a big deal?

Re:Is he actually the first person who has died?

[Anonymous Coward]

"First Blood"

Re:Is he actually the first person who has died?

[Anonymous Coward]

maybe we'll start seeing global pressure on China to change their ways a bit.

Oh yeah? where's it going to come from?

US is a pussy regarding China because of economic relations.
Russia is buddy-buddy with China.
Europe is not united enough to do it.
India wouldn't dare call out China on anything.

Where else do you get pressure from? This article didn't even make media's top 10 news list.

for what?

[gbjbaanb]

Reportedly it was for not being able to run fast enough

If only China had the same attitude towards Windows...

Re:for what?

[Zashi]

C'mon this was funny. Windows is very popular in China and you can bet most installations are pirated.

Yes, it's a little on the troll side of things, but even the cheap shots are worth a laugh. At least there was a degree of wit to it. Not one of the "In soviet China, Starcraft addict beats you!" Wait... the Chinese Starcraft addicts beat me in the US too... I think I screwed up my example. Oh well. Carry on.

Re:for what?

[Shakrai]

Windows is very popular in China and you can bet most installations are pirated.

I wonder what the trade deficit would be if they actually respected our intellectual property and paid the going rate for it instead of stealing it? Funny how we pay them for their stuff but not the other way around.....

Re:for what?

[A. B3ttik]

I wonder what the trade deficit would be if they actually respected our intellectual property and paid the going rate for it instead of stealing it?

Good point. It's also ironic since most of /. would have you believe that piracy isn't stealing, and yet their own lives might be noticeably better if stated countries paid for, instead of pirated, American software.

Think about what the economy would look like!

Re:for what?

[homer_s]

There is no question that many Chinese people are not paying Microsoft for the products they use.

But I fail to understand the fixation with the trade deficit that many people have - do you also worry about people in Illinois pirating windows and hence the trade deficit between IL and WA? If not, why should one arbitrary political boundary matter more than another?

Re:for what?

[gbjbaanb]

are you sure there'd be much difference. The cost of Windows 7 in China is quite low at $60. I couldn't comment on how many Chinese will pirate it anyway.

Re:for what?

[A. B3ttik]

...because we measure the American Trade Deficit and care about it... and nobody cares about the Washington Trade Deficit, assuming one exists?

Re:for what?

[NatasRevol]

$60 x 1.3 billion = a lot of cash, even for a company like Microsoft.

Re:for what?

[Shakrai]

Windows isn't the only bit of American IP that the Chinese can't be bothered to pay for.

Re:for what?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why would they pay for it? They already own Microsoft, the people who work there, their children, and probably you. I'm so glad my wife and I are not having children who will have to pay for all of this country's mistakes.

Re:for what?

[Anonymous Coward]

I wonder what the trade deficit would look like if we didn't fool ourselves into thinking that our imaginary property is actually worth anything.

Perhaps, maybe, we would still produce goods that are tangible, and have an employable workforce?

Re:for what?

[Dragonslicer]

do you also worry about people in Illinois pirating windows and hence the trade deficit between IL and WA? If not, why should one arbitrary political boundary matter more than another?

I don't know, has Illinois borrowed a few trillion dollars from Washington?

Re:for what?

[CFBMoo1]

Not just Windows even. Imagine the amount of money that would have been paid if that Green Damn thing actually paid for the code they supposedly stole. One of these days there should be a serious assessment of all the IP they pirate over there and have that total knocked off the debt to them.

Re:for what?

[steelfood]

China doesn't have the same values about IP as the US does. But they pay for tangibles, i.e. material property and skilled labor. Construction projects are built with US and European equipment and managed by US and European contractors. So they do pay for intellectual property, just not in the same way.

Why don't you complain about the consumerism and runaway consumption that's the cause of the trade deficit in the first place? That's a far bigger problem, because so long as that mentality pervades, then there'll always be a trade deficit with some manufacturing country.

Re:for what?

[Srin Tuar]

They are paying the "going rate" for "Intellectual property": zero. The concept of "intellectual property" is somewhat self delusional. "Information Services" would be a more accurate description.

We cannot blame China for not paying for work that has already been performed.

In a service model, you should collect money, or at least sign a contract to get paid, before you do the work, not after.

The problem with the "Intellectual Property Industry" is that their business model is the same as those aggressive window washers who try to force people waiting at red lights to pay for their dubious "service". at some point, people get fed up and tell you to buzz off.

Re:for what?

[KahabutDieDrake]

Funny? They ship items, products by the boat load to us. We send them intellectual property. The only thing funny here is the inequity of the arrangement at hand, and it has nothing to do with piracy.

Re:for what?

[Anonymous Coward]

Because the USA is built on a firm history of resecting foriegn patents and copyrights, uh huh

Re:for what?

[mdwh2]

I didn't realise the RIAA were posting on Slashdot these days. Yes, I'm sure that the US will be ruined if people keep making copies of Windows, over and over again.

What are you gonna do - sue them for a million billion dollars, or something?

Re:for what?

[Anonymous Coward]

don't worry -- we're paying them with t-bills that will become worthless......

Re:for what?

[rohan972]

Windows is very popular in China and you can bet most installations are pirated.

I wonder what the trade deficit would be if they actually respected our intellectual property and paid the going rate for it instead of stealing it? Funny how we pay them for their stuff but not the other way around.....

Yeah, come back to us when you've paid out for all those US treasury bill the Chinese have. Not with money that's been inflated to be worthless either. The US industrialised while not acknowledging foreign patents and copyrights. Thanks for the example you set, US. Don't you think you prosper more by doing business with wealthy countries? Lay off on the international IP thing, at least for developing countries, it'll be better for all of us in the long run.

Re:for what?

[sjames]

There are many and various views on /. Some feel that violation of IP is a lesser act than stealing, others that it's merely different. Many believe that IP should only apply to commercial operations. Plenty believe it should be shorter and/or narrower in scope. Relatively few believe it shouldn't exist in any form. None of those views logically preclude the idea that we would be better off if U.S. and Chinese respect for IP were at the same level (both ignore it or both enforce it).

Motivational cooking

[ZackSchil]

If a sauce is supposed to run when poured, but doesn't, beating it never helps. Simmering over low heat is a much better option.

Re:Motivational cooking

[Shatrat]

You could whisk in a little white wine over some heat, but I don't see how that stops me from refreshing Woot.com.

Re:Motivational cooking

[clone53421]

So... what you're saying is, they should have lit a fire under him?

Life Imitates Art

[MartinSchou]

When I saw this, I couldn't help but think about the classical Rowan Atkinson sketch.

Re:Life Imitates Art

[Anonymous Coward]

The young man in the photo appears to be holding a TV remote. Perhaps he was misdiagnosed.

Please translate

[Anonymous Coward]

My chinese office mate just peer over his computer screen as said this to me ... can anybody translate? " Ah pe'al nee' run fas'er. 'e no run ve'ee fas now dough is he! "

Did anyone notice the cost?

[Flea of Pain]

FTA: "Deng Fei paid the camp 7,000 yuan ($1,024) for one month of training."

Does anyone else see the irony in sending a bunch of computer nerds to camp, and charging them a nice even binary number to do it?

Re:Did anyone notice the cost?

[AndrewNeo]

I don't think 7 is a binary number. Er, a number involved in binary.

Re:Did anyone notice the cost?

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't think 7 is a binary number. Er, a number involved in binary.

0 1 2 4 8 16 32 64 128 256 512 1024 2048 4096

Re:Did anyone notice the cost?

[ChefInnocent]

Maybe in his system 7 is a valid symbol for what you think as 1. Think beyond the spoon Neo.

Re:Did anyone notice the cost?

[Ihlosi]

0 1 2 4 8 16 32 64 128 256 512 1024 2048 4096

One of these is not a power of 2.

Re:Did anyone notice the cost?

[Shrike82]

I still fail to see how 7000 yuan and your highlighting of the number 1024 has any relation. By translating into one of the vast number of worldwide currencies you could probably make any figure into a binary number...

Re:Did anyone notice the cost?

[Anonymous Coward]

1024 is 2^10

hand in your nerd card

Re:Did anyone notice the cost?

[NatasRevol]

None of these is in Yuan....

Re:Did anyone notice the cost?

[bcmm]

He just started with 0, and kept doubling.

Duh.

Re:Did anyone notice the cost?

[muckracer]

> FTA: "Deng Fei paid the camp 7,000 yuan ($1,024) for one month of training."

I wonder, if he's gonna get a refund now...:

"Dear Sir,

due to lesser than anticipated expenses regarding the training of your son we're very happy to confirm an immediate charge-back of 6947 Yuan (7000Y - 50Y/1 day lodging - 2Y/wooden stick - 1Y/floor-cleaning solution) to your credit card. To adjust for certain inconveniences we'd further like to send you these '50% OFF' attendance vouchers which your other children can take advantage of. We'd love to have them stay with us so they too may learn the great values of not being exposed to the gore and violence places like the Internet press upon their helpless bodies and minds.

Thank you for your continued patronage!

Sincerely,

The Boot Camp - Success guaranteed!(TM)"

Re:Did anyone notice the cost?

[Satanicolas]

lim_(n->infinity) 2^(-n) = 0

Re:Did anyone notice the cost?

[Anonymous Coward]

0 1 2 4 8 16 32 64 128 256 512 1024 2048 4096

One of these is not a power of 2.

Gah, he's been trolled. Anonymous backup to the rescue!

00000000 00000000 = 0
00000000 00000001 = 1
00000000 00000010 = 2
00000000 00000100 = 4
00000000 00001000 = 8
00000000 00010000 = 16
00000000 00100000 = 32
00000000 01000000 = 64
00000000 10000000 = 128
00000001 00000000 = 256
00000010 00000000 = 512
00000100 00000000 = 1024
00001000 00000000 = 2048
00010000 00000000 = 4096
00100000 00000000 = 8192
01000000 00000000 = 16384
10000000 00000000 = 32768

There. Now you hand in your geek card.

Re:Did anyone notice the cost?

[clone53421]

One of those is (still) not a power of two.

Re:Did anyone notice the cost?

[Anonymous Coward]

Ooh... Let me guess! It's the zero, right?

Re:Did anyone notice the cost?

[be951]

Better check your math. I'm pretty sure 0 times 2 is still zero, not one.

Re:Did anyone notice the cost?

[Anonymous Coward]

Whoosh...

Re:Did anyone notice the cost?

[Anonymous Coward]

0 is not a power of 2...

Re:Did anyone notice the cost?

[ae1294]

'50% OFF' attendance vouchers which your other children can take advantage of.

Hehe that's funny, people in china can only have one kid...

Re:Did anyone notice the cost?

[Goateee]

But OP was talking about nice looking binary numbers, which 0 is.

Re:Did anyone notice the cost?

[clone53421]

For very non-power-of-two meanings of "nice-looking", it is.

For that matter, 1111111111111111 is also a nice-looking binary number for very non-power-of-two meanings of "nice-looking". Unless we're talking about signed integers, in which case it is a power of two... okay, never mind.

Re:Did anyone notice the cost?

[Ihlosi]

Better check your math. I'm pretty sure 0 times 2 is still zero, not one.

He was using a Pentium, duh.

Re:Did anyone notice the cost?

[LaskoVortex]

One of those is (still) not a power of two.

Good for you! You can spot powers of two. To bad you can't read. Here is the relevant section:

a nice even binary number

What's binary? Well, the dictionary does not say binary numbers are necessarily powers of 2. From about.com, which agrees with wikipedia, which agrees with the dictionary on my mac: "refers to base two arithmetic using the digits 0 and 1."

So the number 0, as you can see, is a base-2 number. Not all "base-2" numbers are powers of 2. For example: 11. But you can express 11 in binary (the word the OP used): 11. See?

Maybe you will have a better shot at trolling over the word "even". But don't try, because 0 is an even number (0 % 2 = 0).

Hints: (1) read carefully, (2) consult a dictionary, (3) don't be such a troll.

Re:Did anyone notice the cost?

[Anonymous Coward]

What the fuck? He's talking about 1024. I thought that was fairly obvious...

Re:Did anyone notice the cost?

[clone53421]

Um, read the post to which I directly responded and tell me that "Anonymous backup" did not clearly think that 0 is a power of two.

He/she obviously thought the list of binary numbers was a list of powers of two. I simply pointed out that one of the numbers in the list wasn't.

It has nothing to do with the OP or with trolling. Someone was wrong on the internet and I had to correct them.

Re:Did anyone notice the cost?

[Narnie]

0 2^0 2^1 2^2 2^3 2^4 2^5 2^6 2^7

Re:Did anyone notice the cost?

[7 digits]

No, he talked about "nice even binary number", which 00000000 00000001 isn't...

Re:Did anyone notice the cost?

[ewertz]

You're right -- you still fail.

Re:Did anyone notice the cost?

[muckracer]

> people in china can only have one kid

Depends on where they live. Apparently in rural areas they can have two.

"Please proceed with your numbered ticket to the next available child-approval agent!"

The guards should follow the rules

[Anonymous Coward]

Their instruction manual clearly outlines what is proper and improper physical contact. I'm looking in the manual right now. The paragraph about interaction is right after paragraph three on page four.

Oh wait...

Courtesy of /g/

[Anonymous Coward]

Did he drop any good items?

Communist China...

[Dgtl_ _Phoenix]

In America, you can beat internet addiction. In communist China, internet addiction beats you.

Re:Communist China...

[Anonymous Coward]

This meme is trotted out EVERY SINGLE article and it still gets 5 funny?

Re:Communist China...

[Aphoxema]

Wrong country, right joke. Still delightfully offensive.

Re:Communist China...

[clone53421]

Only when it is funny.

Re:Communist China...

[Anonymous Coward]

Not only is it funny; it's relevant, too. IMHO, I think the GP's statement trumps all of the other "In Communist ....." memes ever said.

If I had mod points I would have given him one.

The reeducation camp must be proud...

[defireman]

Curing addiction to life, one beating at a time.

China

[Anonymous Coward]

It's China, the totalitarian dictatorship, what else could we expect?

Government has no respect for chinese people, it's oppression after oppression. //kyle, PT

Resisting the urge to make puns...

[BlueKitties]

I'm unfamiliar with the laws in China regarding how someone gets sent to one of these camps, but I'm sure you probably have serious issues if you end up in one. The problem is that most Internet addicts (the kind who are reading my post right now, instead of working *glare* ) are socially inept -- throwing them into the meat grinder is only going to make them go further into their shell.

Not only as a show of responsibility, I think China should open its methods for evaluation by serious, respected phsychologists. If China makes an honest attempt to improve its treatment, it could probably even help its standing with other countries. As a rule of thumb, politicians aren't what draw countries together, but common goals. China could turn this situation around, and use it to help its people and its standing with the world.

Of course, I'd be surprised if China made this sort of effort (it takes more Democratic Countries long enough to get around to this sort of stuff, what should we really expect from them?)

Re:Resisting the urge to make puns...

[The Empiricist]

I'm unfamiliar with the laws in China regarding how someone gets sent to one of these camps, but I'm sure you probably have serious issues if you end up in one. The problem is that most Internet addicts (the kind who are reading my post right now, instead of working *glare* ) are socially inept -- throwing them into the meat grinder is only going to make them go further into their shell.

The article was pretty clear how the kid was sent to the camp: his parents paid about $1,024 to the camp for one month of "training" for their child. This wasn't a state action. It was a private action.

The PRC government has plenty of problems, but you shouldn't blame every thing that happens in China on the government. China is a huge nation, with a huge population. Things are a no more simplestic there than they are in the rest of the world.

Re:Resisting the urge to make puns...

[BlueKitties]

I know that's what the article said, but I'm sure there must have been at least some evaluation of the child. That's what I'm interested in, how badly "addicted" these kids are. (Of course, money involved, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't do any evaluation at all...)

Re:Resisting the urge to make puns...

[The Empiricist]

I know that's what the article said, but I'm sure there must have been at least some evaluation of the child. That's what I'm interested in, how badly "addicted" these kids are. (Of course, money involved, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't do any evaluation at all...)

I would be suprised if there was any evaluation. Asian parents tend to relate their own happiness with the success of their children. If a child spends a lot of time playing video games, then that can appear to be a threat to the success of the child, which makes the parents unhappy.

As for this "camp" . . . they are probably just in it for the money and would probably take any child parents send their way. Even if they do some kind of "evaluation," I'm guessing it is pretty cursory; something to try to confirm the fears of the parents that their child is doomed to a cheetos-filled, sexless life in the basement if they don't pony up the yuan.

I'm sick, take to to the camp.

[__aakqkc2748]

This is how the treat the mentally ill? I gotta watch out, cause I'm crazy in about a hundred ways, but yeah that country is abominable.

Option for curing WoW addiction?

[Anonymous Coward]

Create a WoW server that you only get access to with a doctor's note about WoW addiction. Your guardian or death camp instructors can even request that all your characters are moved here.

On this server, you start out at level 80 with all quests done. The auction house has all items, for free. All professions are maxed out.

Bing goes the achievement addiction, while still allowing a graceful withdrawal period.

Re:Option for curing WoW addiction?

[molesdad]

My kids have played on private servers just like that and it had no effect on their enjoyment of WOW.

Re:Option for curing WoW addiction?

[Repossessed]

Enjoyment does not equal addiction.

Thank God I live in America...

[Itninja]

....where a person only get's beaten to death for being non-anglo/anglo/female/gay/transgendered and offending hillbillies/jocks/drunken trailer trash/gangbangers. As an American I will withhold my affront at this most recent beating until Hillary Swank is in a movie about it.

Re:Thank God I live in America...

[bluefoxlucid]

it's funny I have a soft spot for cute females, and injuring or threatening one gets you put in critical condition. It's extremely disproportionate and seems isolated from the core sexual urge (doesn't seem completely non-sexual, but doesn't seem to be an "OHNOES I WON'T GET SEX" or "THIS MAY GET ME LAID!" reaction). I don't know why.

China Strong

[ZeroConcept]

Reminds me of this gem:
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/china_strong

Please define 'run'...

[motherpusbucket]

Was it physical running or that his java script failed to execute in the allotted time?

I think...

[binaryseraph]

we call this BSOD.

Do worry

[Anonymous Coward]

At least until the cowardly barbarians running China are deposed.
Proof they are cowards: Only they are allowed to have guns.
Proof they are barbarians: See Main Article above.

this happens in the US too

[Anonymous Coward]

This happened in the US 5 or so years ago, I saw video on TV of some poor kid being beaten to death by his boot camp instructors. Props to anyone who pulls up the article. So much for 'this! is! china!'...

Re:this happens in the US too

[Psyborgue]

Hell. I'll give you a very long list. If you think it's bad enough that the kids are dead, look up how they died. Check out Michelle Sutton's story. A while back the GAO did an investigative report on it. Written report here. Video of hearing here. There was a second report and hearing as well but that mainly concentrated on deceptive marketing practices (how the kids end up in these places). Has anything been done yet about it? Nope. The congressman Miller acted mighty angry in the hearings but the regulation legislation get anywhere (not that it would have done much anyway)... nope!

Stupid American Righteousness

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, I know your media tell you that everything in China is bad and that it never could happen in the wonderful US of A.

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/15/us/states-pressed-as-3-boys-die-at-boot-camps.html

The article is old of course, if you want never case you should google for "boot camp deaths"

Re:Stupid American Righteousness

[Psyborgue]

Yes. You're absolutely right. It is a far worse problem in the states... Hopefully China does not become the same way but judging how history repeats itself i'm not entirely optimistic.

Re:Stupid American Righteousness

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm a Norwegian

Not just China

[Psyborgue]

This sort of thing happens all the time in the states. Google "Aaron Bacon" and he's hardly the only one. US boot camps have a really bad history in this area only nobody seems to care very much since they kids were somehow "troubled" (allegedly, since there is no due process).

Re:Not just China

[Anonymous Coward]

nobody seems to care very much because it didn't happen in china, so they can't blame it for all the world problems

Re:Not just China

[Anonymous Coward]

Thanks for bringing that up. The real problem is when you get in these types of situations -- humans turn savage when they are in charge of a prison/treatment environment. The problem is has less to do with China and more to do with human nature.

See the Stanford prison experiment

Re:Not just China

[dlenmn]

Holy shit:

http://outside.away.com/outside/magazine/1095/10f_deth.html

Re:Not just China

[Psyborgue]

Yup. And he is only one of many.

Re:Not just China

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-gulags.html

Color me surprised.

Re:Not just China

[7 digits]

What is amazing, is that the guy that started all this continues, and that nobody really care.

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/09/us/boot-camps-proponent-becomes-focus-of-critics.html?pagewanted=all

I'd be the parent of one of the dead kids, I'd lodge a bullet into that asshole's head, whatever the cost would be.

(flame)
Of course, customers of those camps are religious families, so they mostly sit there, whining about the loss, but still thanking god for His Impenetrable Ways. Morons. Ooops. Sorry.
(/flame)

Re:Not just China

[Psyborgue]

If you're referring to Cartesano, he didn't start it (though he did help popularize so-called "wilderness" therapy). The whole industry (wider spectrum including actual boot camps, RTCs, etc...) started in Southern California from a little cult known as Synanon which was based on AA. Most of the parents aren't religious either and this is hardly a religious issue at all. The parents are conned and scared; told that their kids will be dead insane or in jail without the program. When people are desperate and scared they choose desperate solution's. Customers of these places are spread across a wide political and religious spectrum. Most parents simply could not imagine such things can happen in the united states. If anything the left-leaning parents just as easy to con since they believe the allmighty state will protect their kids. When a program says they're "licensed", parents figure that means it's safe. Well. Aaron Bacon died in a licensed program as have so many other kids. None of it matters much if the programs are as good at fooling the rare inspections as they are with parents on a regular basis. Providing a false front is something that cults and cult-like groups are very adept at. Frankly, I don't believe regulation will ever be enough because no matter what, these groups will always be one step ahead. A while back I interviewed an ex-employee of a Utah program who told me they actually had drills to prepare for unexpected arrival of inspectors.

I'd be the parent of one of the dead kids, I'd lodge a bullet into that asshole's head, whatever the cost would be.

Frankly, I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet.

Re:Not just China

[Psyborgue]

And generally nobody cares because they don't believe it happens. It's too horrible to image it being possible. The kids must be making it up, right? The more extreme, the less likely anybody will believe it. People won't hear you out long enough for you to present the hard evidence (which exists), and the news media is often too scared to take on litigious cultic groups. I administer a forum on this topic and you would not believe the amount of legal threats we get. Media dont' care enough to take the risk because it hasn't happened to them and until it does, nobody really cares.

Re:Not just China

[7 digits]

A very interesting link, thanks. You seem pretty knowledgeable about the issue.

I was talking about that guy, because, in the article linked in the post I was replying to, they said:

"Equally disturbing is the story of the man who single-handedly made tough-love wilderness therapy a high-revenue proposition: a military veteran named Steve Cartisano, who many contend is motivated more by greed than compassion. Significantly, the three most recent deaths at wilderness-therapy camps occurred in programs run by Cartisano or former Cartisano employees. And despite years of controversy, criminal charges, and civil suits, Cartisano himself is still in business."

I could admit that some morons killing children out of stupidity, because they make cheap course, etc, etc, but it seems (always referring to the article 2 post before), that he was the one that started the business of making the parent pays 20K to send their kid in group with next to no food 63 days with some untrained guy paid minimum wage. So, basically, it looks that he was the first that puts child life in danger in order to maximize profits. For that, he should be shot.

On the religious side, you may be right also. It is just that the organizations I looked at where very religious (at least they founders were), used a lot of religious imagery, and I don't think non-religious people would buy into that. Also, when I looked at some of the victims bios, I found stuff like "third child of a family of eight", etc, etc.

> Frankly, I don't believe regulation will ever be enough because no matter what, these groups will always be one step ahead. A while back I interviewed an ex-employee of a Utah program who told me they actually had drills to prepare for unexpected arrival of inspectors.

At the first violation, 5 years of prison for the guy in charge of the organization, plus revocation of the license, and interdiction of working in that sector for all those involved. You seem, I think that society should also apply the "tough love" principle with those guys...

Darwin's law meets post birth abortion?

[Kookus]

I thought the point of Darwin's law was to remove your genes from the pool before you reproduced? I guess the next best thing would be to have a post birth abortion... And if they allow those kinds of abortions, I wonder what happens in Soviet Russia?

Re:Darwin's law meets post birth abortion?

[Anonymous Coward]

In Soviet Russia, those kinds of abortions allow them!

Every time you...

[Anonymous Coward]

...buy a "Made in China" product from Walmart or wherever, you are helping to finance this kind of brutality.

Think before you buy.

Re:Every time you...

[Psyborgue]

And the us is far far far worse on this issue. Please remove log from own eye.

Hrm.

[Steauengeglase]

"Reportedly it was for not being able to run fast enough."

Isn't that the reason why anyone gets beaten to death?

Re:Hrm.

[muckracer]

> "Reportedly it was for not being able to run fast enough."

I told him to press Shift...but NOOOoooooooo!

Internet Addiction? What a Farce.

[FreeUser]

I can only wonder if there have been other deaths in this program that did not make the news.

Probably. What I can't believe is that no one seems to be questioning the assumptions of this nonsense (or if they are, the media in its usual incompetent or complicit way is ignorning it): that internet addiction even exists, period.

The very concept is farcical. Like "television addiction", there may be people whose lifestyles are too sedentary, whose lives center more on the couch or computer than most of us are comfortable with, but come on! As Ricky Gervais said when discussing obeisity: "this is not a disease". It's a lifestyle choice, and one that certainly does not deserve incarceration or treatment of any kind, much less lethal abuse!

This whole thing reminds me of the quacks using electroshock therepy to "cure" homosexuality", as has been done in Utah and China in the 1990s and perhaps even more recently. Bigotry dressed up as outreach treatment, only this time its Geeks instead of Gays.

What's next...curing an unruly kid of their addiction to oxygen by putting a pillow over their face and making them go "cold turkey"?

Infinitely absurd and moronic, all of it.

Re:for what? Chickenbutt.

[Anonymous Coward]

Because the Untied States owes an imperial shit-ton of money to China. If they steal from us instead of paying, then turn around and sell those stolen ideas/products back to us and take more of our money, how are we expected to repay our debts to them?

Wishful thinking

[nroets]

When Bill Gates started MS he knew very well that his copyright was not going to be enforced in many countries. Yet he proceeded and even helped the Chinese by pushing UTF-16. They're hardly stealing.

What would the world look like if Hilter did not come to power or electric cars were easier to manufacture...

"I was a Chinese Internet Addict" article

[lbjay]

There was an interesting, personal account of what its like in these treatment centers in the March 2007 issue of Harpers. http://www.harpers.org/archive/2007/03/0081438 [not free, sadly]

Doncha think?

[Tetsujin]

I wonder what the trade deficit would be if they actually respected our intellectual property and paid the going rate for it instead of stealing it?

Good point. It's also ironic since most of /. would have you believe that piracy isn't stealing, and yet their own lives might be noticeably better if stated countries paid for, instead of pirated, American software.

Ironic? I don't know if that's the right word for it. That is nothing like rain on your wedding day, for instance.

I mean, look - yes, some people take that stance, that software piracy isn't "stealing". That point alone is just splitting hairs over terminology. The choice of words there is designed to make people sympathize with the copyright holders, and I think people don't always appreciate that sort of spin.

And then also consider - when we have a stance on what we consider right and wrong, in principle that should not be governed by what is best for ourselves, personally. This is why I don't see this situation as "ironic". If a specific person said both that they think copyright infringement is okay and that China's copyright infringement is bad, that would be hypocritical... But if someone believes copyright infringement is okay and doesn't care about China's copyright infringement or the economic consequences thereof, that's consistent. They've taken their stance and stuck to it.

Re:Doncha think?

[Follis]

Go read the dictionary. Ironic does not mean what Alanis Morisette says it means.

Re:Doncha think?

[Tetsujin]

Ironic does not mean what Alanis Morisette says it means.

That's why I thought an Alanis Morisette reference was appropriate in my response to someone who said (paraphrasing) that it's ironic that someone might be sympathetic to software piracy even if it hurts the economy of their country. It's not a particularly ironic thing.

Re:Doncha think?

[Artifakt]

I don't think that distinction is just splitting hairs - I think it's pretty damned important:

1. There is such a thing as non-criminal copyright infringement. What the heck is non-criminal theft?

2. The Supreme Court has ruled that the state governments can't have their own copyright laws or enforce them. If CV=Stealing, the federal government is keeping states from prosecuting theft in their own jurisdictions.

3. Copyrights eventually expire (even now). CV=Theft would mean there are some kinds of theft where it's legally OK, because the object stolen was too old. I don't want anyone being able to steal my Three Handled Family Grudunza just because it's become an antique. Alternately, CV=Theft means it's immoral for copyright to ever expire.

4. The copyright law was all originally in US title 17, and Title 17 was all non criminal matters at that time. Back then, anything with criminal penalties was in title 18. CV=Stealing means the country got that wrong for the first 200 years. Are you saying Jefferson and Madison were wrong and Sonny Bono was right?

5. Copyright Violation has fair use exceptions. If CV=Theft, there should be something analogous to fair use for other kinds of theft, shouldn't there? If so, what are they? If not, why not?

Re:Doncha think?

[7 digits]

IMO, you've been trolled into answering.

Of course CV is not stealing, it have never been, it will never be.

It has some similarities, and also some difference, hence it cannot be the same. That is obvious. The GP is just trolling for a reply.

Re:Doncha think?

[Tetsujin]

IMO, you've been trolled into answering.

It was not my intention to troll: merely to present the issue in a fairly neutral way.

You say "Of course CV is not stealing" - but the truth, I think, is that the definition is still under contention. Purists among us may not like the concept, but in a legal sense and in a practical sense, terms like "theft" are subject to redefinition and adaptation. And, of course, what is "obvious" and what is "supported by law" are often quite different. (This is in part due to the inherently subjective nature of what is deemed "obvious"...)

The closest analogue to CV "theft" is "theft of services" - for instance finding a way to ride the rides at an amusement park without paying for them. This isn't theft in the traditional sense of material theft (and one could argue nothing is lost, and thus, nothing's been stolen) but nevertheless, the act is considered a form of "theft" under the law.

The reason I referred to the issue as "hair-splitting" is because arguing over whether copyright violation is or isn't theft, for the most part, doesn't get one anywhere in the discussion of whether it's a valid action or not - whether or not it should be criminal, for instance. Calling copyright violation "theft" imposes a judgement that it should be considered criminal: but not calling it theft doesn't imply that it shouldn't be considered a crime.

Re:Doncha think?

[7 digits]

There is nothing neutral in your presentation.

> The closest analogue to CV "theft" is "theft of services" - for instance finding a way to ride the rides at an amusement park without paying for them

No. In a theft of services, the one providing the service still had to provide it. If you find a way to the rides to an amusement park, you are actually using the service. They will need to clean up after you. You deteriorate the rides a bit. You also degrade the service of others, as they may have to wait a bit longer to use the ride, etc, etc.

I disagree that a copyright violation, that occurs in the privacy of someone home, have any connection to theft.

> Calling copyright violation "theft" imposes a judgement that it should be considered criminal: but not calling it theft doesn't imply that it shouldn't be considered a crime.

Your position is not neutral. You agree that sticking "theft" to copyright violation is manipulation, and then, magically, you said that NOT sticking it would be manipulation too, so we should stick "theft". That kind of negative reasoning doesn't make sense:

What is your position on not calling copyright violation "rape" ? After all, the perpetrator is taking pleasure from someone else by force ?

Let's call it "rape". Not calling it "rape" would be manipulation, sure ? And arguing about it would be hair-splitting, wouldn't it ?

Re:Doncha think?

[Tetsujin]

You don't seem to like what I have to say. Think for a moment about how much stock you're putting in what I think - it's as though you don't know how to react to anything I say unless I first take a clear stand on what side of the debate I'm on.

The closest analogue to CV "theft" is "theft of services" - for instance finding a way to ride the rides at an amusement park without paying for them

No. In a theft of services, the one providing the service still had to provide it. If you find a way to the rides to an amusement park, you are actually using the service. They will need to clean up after you. You deteriorate the rides a bit. You also degrade the service of others, as they may have to wait a bit longer to use the ride, etc, etc.

First, note that it's an analogy. It's not an exact copy of the situation with copyright violation, it's similar.

But suppose there were ten other empty seats on the ride. Suppose you even agreed to get off if anybody else wanted to get on. Since there were other people on the ride, it's not like they had to run the thing just for you, and since there were other empty seats, it's not like you affected anyone else's riding experience. So long as you don't make a mess there's nothing to clean - and so long as you don't get injured there's nothing their insurance needs to pay for. So where's the loss?

The answer is that, first, since you got to ride for free, there's no longer any motivation for you to pay. Second, if any of the people who did pay realize that you didn't, they're going to be unhappy about your apparently unfair treatment - they'll be less likely to pay for their own ride in the future.

I'm just saying it's a similar situation and, whether you or I call it theft, in fact the law calls it theft. Thus there's precedent.

You agree that sticking "theft" to copyright violation is manipulation, and then, magically, you said that NOT sticking it would be manipulation too, so we should stick "theft". That kind of negative reasoning doesn't make sense:

Word choice always affects the message. Are you confused why I present two, seemingly contradictory points of view?

Actually, it's because I'm trying to show both sides of the argument.

Also - I did not say that not calling copyright violation "theft" was a form of manipulation, I said it doesn't accomplish anything. It's a kind of zero-value statement. Suppose I'm someone who thinks copyright violation is theft - and you're someone who doesn't... We argue all day, and finally you convince me that you're right. ...So what? All we've really worked out is a small matter of terminology. We haven't even established what copyright infringement is, just one possible thing that it isn't. Have you convinced me, for instance, that the government should not treat copyright infringement as a criminal offense? I guess that could depend upon the course of the discussion - but quite possibly not. This is why I say the matter of terminology is largely irrelevant. It misses the real issue.

What is your position on not calling copyright violation "rape" ? After all, the perpetrator is taking pleasure from someone else by force ?

Let's call it "rape". Not calling it "rape" would be manipulation, sure ? And arguing about it would be hair-splitting, wouldn't it ?

You are diving ever deeper into the murky waters of farcical nonsense based on ever-increasing distortions of what you think you remember I might have said about something. I love using good logic with bad data as a tool for farce, but I'm not in the mood. Let's skip it, shall we?

The reason the question has come up about whether "copyright violation" qualifies as "theft" is because copyright holders (i.e. people with some am

Re:Doncha think?

[iYk6]

Haha. Did you even read the post you replied to? Did you not understand the "rain on your wedding day" reference? In retaliation to GP post, you just repeated what GP said.

Re:Doncha think?

[7 digits]

No, I don't like what you have to say. You are very keen of associating copyright violation with theft, all while pretending to show "both sides of the arguments".

Btw, your ride argument is still flawed. You took a seat that someone else may have wanted. You used some place. You prevented someone to see on his left. You made some noise. You emitted body odors. Maybe, if you weren't here, the young couple next to you would have had a short sexual contact during the ride. Even if you were alone, you prevented the guy in charge of the ride to shut it down and take a coffee.

And you were physically there. You were on some private property where the owner ask a certain amount of money for certain thing.

This is totally different from a copy performed in the privacy of your home, at the total ignorance of the so-called victim.

> Suppose I'm someone who thinks copyright violation is theft - and you're someone who doesn't... We argue all day, and finally you convince me that you're right. ...So what? All we've really worked out is a small matter of terminology.

It is not a small matter of terminology.

Let's say that someone, not knowledgeable on the subject, as me what a copyright violation is, and I will explain to him that it is when a COPY of a creative work not in the public domain is done WITHOUT THE PERMISSON of the copyright holder. That is a simplistic explanation, but it'll get the job done, and open the door to additional discussion.

Now, this guy asks you, and let's consider that you support the view that a copyright violation is a form of theft. You'll reply that a violation occurs when someone STEAL the work of an author. Even if it is only an analogy, you have framed the discourse for that guy that copyright violations are bad and should be severely punished.

If you know the Marketing concept of *positioning* (mainly for products, but also for general ideas, as introduced by the classic marketing book "Positioning" by Ries and Trout) People (including you and me) are *not* receptive to new ideas. It is *extremely* difficult to *create* a new concept in someone's mind. The most efficient (and maybe the sole) way to add an idea is to *piggyback* onto another, and make your place from there.

"Copyright Violation is the Digital Theft". Bam. The seed is planted, the target knows what copyright violation is. It is related to theft. In a digital world. Simple. Easy.

Also mass-media makes extremely difficult to pass complex ideas to audience. That is why such a soundbite will be repeated ad-nauseum, and there is no way to get a proper discourse anymore.

So, in your example, if I can finally convince you that I'm right, that copyright violation is not theft, we didn't just worked out a little matter of terminology. Even if we still don't know what it is, having you thinking of copyright violation in term of a COPY WITHOUT PERMISSION instead of a DIGITAL THEFT is extremely valuable. And not having you propagation the DIGITAL THEFT meme to other is an additional bonus. And, maybe even, having you depositioning copyright violation in the mind of the people that associated it with THEFT is icing on the cake.

On the legal side of your post, your legal system is not mine, so the chances that are taking place where you live are not the one that are taking part where I live. Furthermore, you live under a common law system, and I live under a civil law system.

Re:Doncha think?

[rohan972]

The reason I referred to the issue as "hair-splitting" is because arguing over whether copyright violation is or isn't theft, for the most part, doesn't get one anywhere in the discussion of whether it's a valid action or not - whether or not it should be criminal, for instance. Calling copyright violation "theft" imposes a judgement that it should be considered criminal: but not calling it theft doesn't imply that it shouldn't be considered a crime.

If calling it theft defines the outcome then the argument over whether to call it theft is not hair-splitting. Effectively what you say here is that if you use the word theft, judgement made, case closed, if you don't, it's open to discussion. In order to discuss the issue without a predefined conclusion it is necessary to stop calling it theft.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hair+splitting
-noun
1. the making of unnecessarily fine distinctions.

A distinction that defines the outcome of an argument before it takes place is not "unnecessarily fine".

Is this supposed to be funny??

[csstinderbox]

Someone gets beat to death and its an opportunity to make jokes? That's some cold ass $%&# there.

Re:Is this supposed to be funny??

[Anonymous Coward]

To some people, humor is a coping method. Oh, and lighten up, Francis.

Wha?

[zippthorne]

When I was little, we had "internet addiction camp" too. We called it, "Camp." There were all kinds of activities from learning about native american myths, to swimming, sailing, ropes courses, firearms, hikes...

So many things to pique your interest in activity. How could anyone want to waste a lot of time in "second" life when they could be living real life?

happens too often at US reform schools too

[peter303]

Kids die at criminal justice reform schools and at the tough-love summer camps when kids get out of line with their peers. TV news magazines have done several stories on these tragedies.

china bashing

[rob00]

make way for china bashing, instead of focusing on the issue of this article, its going to be a human rights, Intellectual property or gov't cover up problem. if you don't like the chinese/china come out and say it, but don't hide behind your concern for china human rights problems

Re:internet addiction camp

[Anne Honime]

what a stupid idea really. there's one thing called "parenting" that do it as well. it's simple : you take the little brat with you outside, to show him the world. if you can't, i'm sure there are holidays camps or scouts or whatever goes hiking away from wifi that just do as well.

Re:Internet Addiction? What a Farce.

[Psyborgue]

Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baronâ(TM)s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. Their very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be âcuredâ(TM) against oneâ(TM)s will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level with those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals. - C.S Lewis - the Humanitarian Theory of Punishment

Ketchup

[Anonymous Coward]

It works for ketchup. If it doesn't run out of the bottle, beat it sharply once or twice and then quickly turn the bottle the normal way up because otherwise it'll empty itself over your fries, the table and your trousers.

Unfortunately,

[Anonymous Coward]

Slashdotters are better at Internet Addition than they are at Internet Righting.

Sad

[_KiTA_]

I liked these "Internet Addiction Camps" better when they were called "Summer Camp".

Seriously, when I got too into games as a kid (Dragon Warrior 3, Wizardry 2, and Final Fantasy 2 being the early ones) my mother just walked in, hit the power button, and told me to go outside and not come back in until the sun was down.

Why is this such a hard concept? Is it an asian culture thing? I mean, think of Japan. You have hikikomoris, sitting in the dark in their rooms, with parents enabling them by just feeding them sliced cheese through the crack under the door. China and Kroea have people literally playing video games until their bladders burst and they die.

Granted, A+ for effort but big fat F for common sense, eh?

Is "He'll leave the room when he gets hungry enough" or "Just turn off the freaking router" such a hard concept?

china: not internet friendly

[thecaem]

nerds beware

Go to high school, get a course on religion

[Anonymous Coward]

Hindus believe that you respawn on the same server but the new character type and class depend on your current Karma rating.

For some reason, I feel that I will do fine when I respawn as a troll.

Re:Go to high school, get a course on religion

[MaskedSlacker]

Respawning as a troll is too good for an Anonymous Cowardon.

Re:Go to high school, get a course on religion

[Anonymous Coward]

Trolls regenerate thus no need for them to respawn.

And even if you eat them, quite often you shall regurgitate them alive.

Re:internet addiction camp

[DrLang21]

i'm sure there are holidays camps or scouts or whatever goes hiking away from wifi

In China? Maybe. I don't really know what is available for kids in China. However, if we're talking about clinical addiction, such a simplistic view of a cure is just as bad as this approach. I'll agree that parents are likely to blame because they are the most likely enabler for the addicted child. But once you have reached clinical addiction levels, it is extremely difficult to break, and most people will struggle with it for most of their lives.

Why should they respect your laws?

[SmallFurryCreature]

The US intellectual property laws, which sees a man facing a decade in jail for modding consoles people bought and therefor owned, are the US laws. Not chinese laws. Why should China respect US laws when the US does not respect Chinese laws?

Welcome to the world of international politics, in which you might think you are right, but so does everyone else. And they are right.

Re:Why should they respect your laws?

[Shakrai]

The US intellectual property laws, which sees a man facing a decade in jail for modding consoles people bought and therefor owned

It should be obvious to anyone with an open mind that there's a bit of a difference between individuals modding hardware that they own and individuals taking software/movies/music/etc without paying for it. It should also be obvious that it isn't really fair or just for us to be running a huge trade deficit with China while their population is tacitly encouraged by their government to take millions (billions?) of dollars worth of goods created by Americans without paying for them.

Whatever else you might think of Hollywood/the software industry/the drug companies/etc they are an important part of our economy and it isn't remotely within the spirit of "free trade" for other countries to take their products without paying for them. If we had any balls we'd slap huge tariffs on every imported good from China until they addressed this issue.

Perhaps...

[sesshomaru]

Perhaps for Senshan it would have been better to let him endure his cruel affliction instead of having his parents pay over $1,000 to have him beaten to death?

Perhaps, but would it have been as profitable? It's profits over people in the PRC, nowadays, until that worm turns again....

Not in the United States!

[LaneLester]

Disgusting! Here in the US, only the police allowed to shock and kill with impunity. http://foxyurl.com/qLx

ONE LESS

[Anonymous Coward]

Filesharer
US digital media pirateer
US cybercracker script kiddie
Factory worler
Slave for Proc Camps

Victim of censhorship
Victom of oppression
Victim of mind control

Oh wait those last 3 were meant for another post regarding that obamination in the white house and legislature. oops

really though

[daft_one]

Isn't "not being able to run fast enough" usually the root cause of anyone being beaten to death?

Re:Internet Addiction? What a Farce.

[Artifakt]

Well, if it is possible to have internet addiction, then TV addiction is equally possible - both or neither might be the case, but how could it possibly be just one?
Jumping rapidly to a conclusion, they both are. We have to cure the TV addicts first, of course:

1. There's a lot more of them.

2. The social costs are higher (Home Shopping Network addiction can cost thousands a month in some cases, whereas even World of Warcrack is only 20 bucks a month).

3. The TV addicts are more in denial (I've just indirectly admitted I could have a problem, while they're all trying to get the society to do something about the internet addicts instead.).

4. What's the number one thing other addicts are accused of climbing out of people's windows with? TVs! When some heroin addict steals my bandwidth to finance his habit, I'll concede this point.

So right after people cure all the TV addicts (or beat them to death in a huge Chinese camp), I'll gladly discuss entering a program.

Small Price...

[stms]

I think this is a small price to pay to save the thousands of live ruined by WOW.

Chinese parts?

[MasaMuneCyrus]

Most computer parts are made not in China but in Taiwan or Malaysia. I'm not sure if I have any Chinese-made parts in my computer. Maybe the packaging?

And most clothing, too, is made in countries poorer than China, now (at least in my experience). For instance, my current shirt is made in Bangladesh, and another in Qatar.

I've dealt with these people

[MasaMuneCyrus]

While you're correct that they usually do have someone that cares about them, they usually don't ever go back to them for help, or god forbid they'd have to give up even a few of their bad habits to live in a comfortable, supportive house.

I need Help!

[cpscotti]

Hi my name is Scott and I am an Internet'oholic!! I need to go to one of those camps but I don't have those $1,000.00! Please donate to cpscotti@sourceforge and sava a life! Thanks,

maybe they should block access

[prennix]

I mean, really - just put in a firewall or something to keep the people from finding out about this stuff. should be simple enough, right?

BS

[Anonymous Coward]

I call your bullshit and go all in on this bet.

There is no such thing...

[Hurricane78]

...as Internet addiction. Never EVER forget that! EVER!

Also, wait for this to be the same in the "western" world in 10 years.

Old console

[Halotron1]

Must have been an old school side scrolling adventure.

Stupid forced scrolling.

Re:for what? Chickenbutt.

[mdwh2]

It's funny that as soon as the context is America vs China, the acknowledgement that stealing and copyright infringement are different issues goes out the window, and we get a whole load of people talking just like the RIAA.

Still don't understand them... but

[xednieht]

Murloc's 1 Internet Addict 0

Obligatory

[Anonymous Coward]

Did he drop any good loot?

I didn't know WWASPS had Chinese offices.

[cwcpetech]

While they have them for kids addicted to the internet, ours are willing to kidnap them for less specific deeds(and to relatively far-away lands).

Re:I didn't know WWASPS had Chinese offices.

[Psyborgue]

For those not familiar with WWASP, there is a documentary available here (mp4 video).

I guess that means he's cured...

[PinchDuck]

Too bad about the "never being able to do anything ever again" part.

I'll excuse myself for finding the headline funny

[Cinnaman]

because China is already fairly undemocratic. Not on a downward slide like the west, I guess we'll meet them at the bottom with our censored internet and police state with plutocrats at the top doing what they like.

Of course ...

[JumpSocial]

Internet is a disease for a country that likes censorship.

In other, totally unrelated, News

[RivenAleem]

...the S.T.A.R.S MT has suddenly disappeared, has not logged in in over a week. Guildmembers are concerned

Internet addiction

[Anonymous Coward]

Dont' worry... they have free medicine -- just like they apparently have free abuse...

Sad day for China's citizens, truly...

[badkarmadayaccount]

It seems that the "Great leaders" have caught on that information is power, and the wielders of the Dark Art of The Internet are a threat to their regime.
Consequently they marked it as a mental disorder, instead of marking them enemies of the people directly, though the net effect is the same, by leveraging the negative connotation of "addicted" people.
Get ready for another run of Nazis, guys. Hitler didn't just hate Jews just because, they were a threat to his rule, due to their tight nit culture, and we can't have non-conformists, now, can we?
I don't know about everybody else, but I'm scared.

Re:Internet Addiction? What a Farce.

[badkarmadayaccount]

Mod parent up. This murder is really getting to me. I'm 15 and I'm writing my will. Whatever. Excuse me while I go get drunk.

one way to deal with population problems

[Nyder]

Personally, I applaud china for dealing with their population problem!

Re:Don't worry Really frackin' CRASS

[davidsyes]

Kid gets beaten by asshole adults, beaten to death (not as if he tried to play superhero and fly from a cliff or such), and he gets mocked in a geek forum. I imagine slashdot's karma is taking some hits, too. There should be a moderation for "crass-assed humour"... I'd like to see each and every "funny" commentator and supporting moderator explain to the bereaved parents how they think this shit's funny. Imagine if one of YOUR kids or relatives got beaten to death, here in the US. You'd be out for blood. If *I* laughed, and poked fun at your pain, you'd (if endowed) hunt down every shred of info on me and begin a smear campaign, until the law caught up with you.

(Go ahead, mark it off-topic... I'm getting that lately...)